RAAVE TAPES – ARGYLE HOUSE RAAVE BABES

BY KIAN WEST

NEWCASTLE DANCE ROCK DARLINGS RAAVE TAPES HAVE CERTAINLY MADE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES THESE PAST FEW YEARS, AND WE LOVE HAVING A CATCH-UP CHAT WITH THEM WHENEVER WE BUMP INTO EACH OTHER AT COOL NEWY VENUES. BUT WITH A LINEUP CHANGE AND A BIG SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT, IT SEEMED TIME TO PUT IT TO PRINT…

I wanted to do something different for this interview, so I made all the Raave Tapes family climb into the car and we went for a hot lap around the Newcastle beaches while chatting about the future. I’m currently trying to decide if I should post it as a podcast or just drop the whole transcribed beauty online, so maybe let us know? Here you go: Joab Eastley, Lewis Horne and Lindsay O’Connell.

Can everyone introduce themselves?Joab: You guys first.Lindsay: Me first? My name is Lindsay. I play bass.

No one can see you and you have to speak up.Lewis: I'm Lewis.

What do you do?Lew: I play drums and put up with Trav's memes. No, I enjoy Trav's memes.J: No, you put up with them.Lind: Actually, no, I want to change mine. I play bass and I'm band mum.Lew: Yes, you are band mum. Definitely band mum.Maybe you should start with ‘band mum’ and then ‘play bass’. I think band mum is more important, isn't it?Lind: Definitely.J: Oh, no, what's the thing we said? You know, like a basic bitch? Do you know what a basic bitch is? ‘Bloody basic bitch.’ This is a good meme. Don't miss this. She's a bass-sick bitch.Sick. Like, shakkas.J: Yeah, heaps big shakkas. Ironic shakkas, though.And in the front seat?J: Hi, I'm Joab and what do I do? I'm Captain Coach.

Captain Coach.

J: Captain Coach, yes.

Lew: Speaking of, do you know Joab won a premiership?

J: Oh, yes, I won a premiership. Can we have that in print, please? You know how you do the article title and the little tagline? Just 'Joab won a premiership one time'.

Oh, nice. Just one?

J: Yes, only one.

Lew: Just Raave Tapes/premiership winner.

J: Yeah, that's it.

Lewis: Singer/songwriter/premiership winner. Yes, that's heaps funny.

J: With the band, we should have in that little Facebook ‘About’ section, Lewis – drums, Lindsay – bass/band mum, Joab – premiership winner but also singer/songwriter.

Lew: Slash singer-vocalist. That's heaps funny. I'm doing that.

So I have one question for you, Joab. Why is the band called Raave Tapes?

J: Well, the band name. We picked that ages ago. It was like, three years ago. We wanted something that said what our sound was about. It's like the whole ‘rave’ thing because we are dance-y, but ‘tapes’ because of the garage-y lo-fi side of things. So it sort of says the two things that we are in one thing. But then we found out there was something else called Rave Tapes, so we put an extra 'A' in it because we are edgy.

Why not three ‘A’s? I always wondered why two 'A's, not three.

J: That just seemed excessive.

You guys love throwing some pretty spectacular parties. The party is clearly the ethos to which Raave Tapes play. I hear there is something really big about to go down.

J: Maybe. It depends who’s asking.

Newcastle Mirage is asking.

J: Well, we've got some big things on the horizon. Ready to spill the beans, guys?

Lind: Let's open up that can.

Lew: Let's do it.

J: Alright, Lewis, what I'm going to do is get this up and let you – we’ll go through the line-up one by one.

Lew: And we have to Raave-review them.

J: We'll Raave-review them as we go. I'll explain what it is, like the concept, and then you can go through from there.

Lew: Okay.

J: We’re doing ‘Raave Tapes shuts down the Argyle House’ on the 20th of August this year, which is exactly one year after we did Winter Wonderland, that big warehouse festival thing. It’s like the big launch thing for our next single. And we've got 20 bands, three stages in each room of the Argyle on a Sunday from 1:30pm or something until 10:00 at night. And it's going to be fucking sick.

Obviously.

J: Yes, ready for the line-up?

Yes.

J: Alright, hit ’em, Lew. We'll go one by one and talk about them as we go. That’ll be fun.

Lew: Alright, well, Raave Tapes are on, but –

J: Yay, Raave Tapes are on. Wooo.

Lind: No way.

Lew: They’re sick.

Look! Over there! The line-up for this epic Argyle House RAAVE!

Door fee?

J: $15, I think. Go this way, please. I want to show you something.

Okay.Are people going to be able to buy tickets before? Because this feels like a sell-out event.

J: Yes, they will. It's going to be enormous. It's one of those things where – don't sleep on it, because you might miss out and you don't want to because it's going to be funny.

As soon as you read this, go and buy your ticket.

J: Yep, go and buy your ticket. There’ll be a link on the article. Isn't that right, Kian?

Yes, a hundred percent.

J: Wooo. 20th of August, that's our big dumb thing, but we’re releasing our next single on – let's say – August 2nd, or something. That week of August. So we’re playing a show on the day that this interview is being released. Here.

Here?

J: There. [pointing at Fort Scratchley]

Wait. Really?

J: Yes.

There you go.

J: That's exactly - that's what I wanted. I wanted that reaction. ‘Really, why?’ It's going to be a secret show. It's going to be Raave Tapes playing a very intimate single launch. There's only going to be, like, 60 tickets or something – up there. In there. It's going to be like, the bill is at an iconic Newcastle location. Super intimate. 60 tickets. Don't miss out. And we’re going to play in that room right there. See, Lew, see right there?

Lew: Yes.

All of the exclusives. If people aren’t already watching you guys on social media, basically – start.

J: Jump on.

For nothing other than the meme overload.

J: Yep, and our funny, funny Instagram stories because, god, we put some effort into them. There was one last night of Lindsay dancing with a little baby and it was so cute.

Lew: So wholesome.

Lind: So cute.

J: It was adorable.

Lew: Lindsay melts hearts. Joab's wrist melts faces.

J: Oooh. I'm so glad you said 'wrist' and not 'fingers' them because that could have been misconstrued…

J: So have we. So the next single we’re releasing, which will be released a few days before this comes out, is called ‘Kbye’ –

Lew: Oh, there's Sal. [car horn beep] That's my housemate.

‘Kbye’?

J: ‘Kbye’. That's going to be released just before this comes out, which is exciting. It's all going to tie in very nicely. Good thinking.

As we finish up, do you have any last advice for Novocastrians?

J: Support the Knights, they really need it.

Is that all it really takes?

J: Yeah, like, support the scene. The Knights are a part of the scene. Support them. They need help.

I'm not sure if that's advice, but…

Lew: Always say ‘be safe’ and ‘travel safe’.

There are a couple of hot tips in there (except for maybe that last Knights part), including the big news of Raave Tapes’ single launch, party at Argyle House and everyone’s favourite spreadsheet guru Ben Cooper. See you at the show on August 20th!